New Music: Mermaid Island – Freaks

Mermaid Island have said their initial credo was “We just want to play shows with our friends,” but debut single Freaks deserves a wider hearing than that.

It doesn’t possess the nihilism of early punk, nor the emptily positive ethos that followed, but Freaks has an important message of its own – be yourself.

The Californian trio formed in the heat of the Los Angeles underground punk scene, but that doesn’t quite get across how, on Freaks, they have a similar passion and hell-for-leather drive to The Distillers and the empowering messages – and raw, raucous hooks – of Amyl and the Sniffers.

Maybe the chords on Freaks follow a pop-punk pattern at times, but this is not pop – it’s punk, pure and simple – and a lot of fun. Catch up with Mermaid Island on Instagram for all the latest music and gig news. Freaks is streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.